All Design Is Redesign

Design is ubiquitous. Everything around us is designed to be the way it is. Design is thus never a beginning; it is always an extension, refinement and distillation.

Design is representing of intent and is generally connected to terms like creativity and innovation or often seen as a form of an art. Every design is basically about revamping an already existing idea or design. It is about innovating and making it more acceptable to suit the needs that change with time.

There is no design that starts from the very original; it is always a designer who works on design solutions that are already at hand and which had existed as an issue. The process never begins; it is always about recreating an existing design that may look like a problem, issue or a scope of improvement. The online image sharing over social media has evolved out of the need of traditional photo album sharing ways. To sum it up, designing is about molding an old complex concept into a simple and convenient one by improving it.

The design is present in various different forms; as an incomplete design that needs to be completed, as a complex layout that needs to be simplified, a raw solution that needs to be beautified. It is bringing about functional improvement or aesthetical innovation. There is always a relation between a design and its past related dimension. However there are a lot of stages involved in this and there is no final stage that indicates the end. Implying that there is no design that is complete or an ultimate solution, the scope of improvement always exists. Designing thus follows a continuous path; there can be uncountable redesigns of the base design.

Design- A Problem Solving Approach

The need of redesigning emerges from the very fact that there is no ultimate design form. Since there is always a possibility to enhance the design, redesigning is vital from time to time.

Regarding design as redesign makes a lot of sense. The inventions of the tools by mankind are actually more of a discovery or exploration. The objects that were found useful were combined and altered to suit the needs of man. Since then generations have been modifying and improving these tools to go with the changing era. Time is an important parameter affecting the redesigning needs. The concept of design triggers from exploring issues and problems in order to deliver a creative solution to it. A design is similar to a product, just the way a product is always a solution to the customers’ problem. A product is an answer to a problem that may be known or unknown to customer, a problem that exists or is created for him, but which at the end, resolves the issue and serves as a way out.

Design is Thus Improvisation

Designing can be seen as an improvisation or progression of an older prevailing structure. Initially the designer builds on such a solution to an issue, and this issue contains a latent design in itself. The car concept can be seen as an improvised version of the mechanical bullock cart. This former design is a solution to man’s need to commute which is further worked upon to make it more advanced, more commercial, more acceptable and sustainable. There is a sense of remedy that imbibes in the word design.

Designing can be seen as constructing multiple variations of the older blueprint. A very simple instance can explain this relation between redesign and design. The pigeon post in the ancient ages took form of the telegram design which was further changed to telephones and then cordless phones, to mobile phones and ultimately to smart phones or the internet phones. These are the variations of the basic design of the means of communication. Similarly, redesigning is a process of creatively bringing about step by step changes, taking the design through constant improvements and treating it with new combinations of solutions. The design is basically a process of redesigning on a continuous basis, and it applies to every form of design. Consider a mechanism, process, technology or anything else for that matter, redesigning keeps taking place at regular intervals and this rebuilding cycle is in point of fact endless. It is important for designers to adopt a problem solving attitude in their vision. They must affirm that all their creations are a redesign of someone else’s prior ideas. The two perspectives that can be adopted are the Design and the Redesign perspective. Seeing a creation from the design perspective is to focus on the current sole creator of the artwork. Seeing from the redesign perspective is to acknowledge the previous contributors and highlight the collective aspects and ingredients of the design. It does not limit the credit to the individual designer, but values the roles of every designer involved since the beginning. The redesign perspective sees the creator as the co-creator and the re-creator without missing to mention the existence of the other creators.